weekly that had recently been started by the author of the poetical drama just alluded to. The weekly refers to the celebration in most flattering terms. “Undoubtedly social life in Tupiza had increased so far that it is high time to commence to notice its faults and deficiencies. These could easily be removed with proper enthusiasm and good will. Tupiza is a centre of social culture, but unfortunately it is not yet able to appreciate such worthy theatrical spectacles as have recently taken place!”
CHAPTER VIII
TUPIZA TO COTAGAITA
We found that the Bolivian government had recently subsidized a weekly stage line from Tupiza to Uyuni on the Antofagasta railway and another from Tupiza to Potosí, our next objective point. The fare to Potosí is twenty-two dollars, and the journey takes only four days. But we had enough of being shaken to pieces in a stage-coach, and decided we could see the country better and be more independent if we used saddle mules.
Two weeks before our arrival a couple of bandits, one of whom had been hunted out of Arizona by Pinkerton detectives, had held up a cart containing twenty thousand dollars, on its way to pay off the laborers in a large mine. The owners, wealthy Bolivians, immediately offered a large reward for the capture of the bandits, dead or alive, notwithstanding that the robbers and their friends, of whom there seemed to be a score or more, let it be carefully understood that they would take a definite revenge for any lives that might be lost in pursuit of the highwaymen. This did not deter the mine owners, however, and a party of fifty Bolivian soldiers went on the trail of the robbers, who were found lunching in an Indian hut. They had carelessly left their mules and rifles several yards away from the door of the hut and were unable to escape. After a fight, in which three or four of the soldiers were killed and as many more wounded, the thatch roof of the hut was set on fire and the bandits forced out into the open where they finally fell, each with half a dozen bullets in his body. Their mules were captured and sold to Don Santiago who let me have one of them for my journey. He turned out to be a wonderfully fine saddle mule. When his former owner had had the benefit of his fleet legs and his splendid lungs, there was no question of his being caught by the Bolivian soldiery.
In that part of the Andes where one is following the usual trade-routes, there are four modes of travelling. One may purchase one’s own animals, employ servants to attend to them, and sell them for a song at the end of the journey. This is the most expensive, the most satisfactory, and the surest method of travel, provided always that one succeeds in getting a reliable, well-recommended arriero. A careless arriero will soon drive you to despair and allow your mules to get into a state of semi-starvation and sore back that will speedily destroy their usefulness. The second method is to hire a professional carrier who, for a stipulated sum of money, will provide you with animals, go along with them, feed and care for them, and get you to your destination as speedily as possible. If your sole object is speed, this method is even surer than the first, for owing to the high price of fodder in the post-houses, the contractor may be relied upon to push the caravan forward as speedily as possible. The third method is by far the least expensive, the most troublesome, and the least certain. This is to depend on the mules that are supposed to be in readiness for travellers at the post-houses. We frequently amused ourselves on our journey by imagining what we could possibly have done had we attempted to rely on this last method. Repeatedly we reached post-houses where there was not a mule to be seen, or where the two or three that were there, were drearily hanging their melancholy heads in the corral, so worn out and broken down as to convince us of their inability to carry even an ordinary load at anything faster than a slow walk. The traveller who trusts to post-house mules rarely remembers much of the scenery or the nature of the country. His chief impression is that of unfortunate mules continually being beaten in order to reach the next post before dark. The fourth method, and the one we decided to adopt, is to hire from a reputable contractor a number of his best mules and one of his most trusted arrieros at so much per day. In this way, you are not hurried faster than you want to go, the mules are sure to be well cared for, and the discomforts of mountain travel are reduced to a minimum. Except on a long journey, it is not as expensive as buying one’s own animals and is less risky.
Thanks to the energy of Don Santiago, the necessary mules and provisions were ready in two days. On his suggestion, we took with us as arriero, one Mac, a wandering Scotchman who had seen service in the Boer War, had drifted thence to Argentina, and was now trying his luck in southern Bolivia. He seemed just the sort of person to make a good orderly,
and we thought we were quite fortunate in securing his services. Relying on his past experience, we told him to purchase such provisions as were necessary for the next five days. He proceeded to purchase four dozen hard-boiled eggs and three roast fowls. These he packed carelessly in my leather saddle-bags, together with a bottle of Eno’s fruit salts of which he was very fond. The expected happened. The eggs were reduced to an unrecognizable mass, the bottle of fruit salts was broken and the contents well rubbed into the chicken, so that our fare for the next two or three days was not much above the ordinary.